


NW vs ISIS

by glittergrenade



Category: New Warriors
Genre: Angst, Gen, Isis - Freeform, PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Terrorists, War, War on Terror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-23 18:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4886848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittergrenade/pseuds/glittergrenade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The New Warriors go to stop ISIS and the bombs remind Speedball of another bomb he experienced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	NW vs ISIS

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been to Syria, so I'm sorry if any inaccuracies offends anyone because that's the last thing I want to do because ISIS is so evil!!!!! :0 I just keep hearing about this in the news and it's so horrible, and I thought about how in Vol 1 the New Warriors went to places like that a lot to stop evil terrorist-types, and so I thought Syria and Iraq etc could really use the New Warriors, and then yeah. (And then it became angsty because I'm kind of a sucker for angsty Robbie.) Anyways, I know it doesn't help but I send out my greatest sympathies and love to the victims of these horrible things... I'm so so so sorry.  
> <3

"You are so Namorita," Robbie insisted, shaking his head at Faira. Vance suppressed a smile to himself in silent agreement; and from her chuckle, he guessed Silhouette was of the same thoughts.

"I am _not_!" Faira snapped, whirling her head around to glare at Robbie, her long dark braid whipping through the air.

"You so are," Robbie countered with a grin. "I mean, go to Syria? That is totally something Nita would've said. I remember this one time when she wanted the Warriors to go to—"

"That's enough, Robbie," Vance decided he should probably cut him off; Faira's venomous glare had been growing intenser with every word. They were a team — best to keep the peace.

Apparently Kaine felt the same way, as he interrupted at the same time as Vance, saying: "If you don't shut up, Speedball, I _will_ cut out your tongue."

"He means it," Aracely shot Robbie a sideways glance, before grinning, "he wouldn't really do it, though, he's too sweet on you all. He'd stop before his wrist spike was halfway out."

"Well!" Selah's tone was raised, as if to distinguish herself as apart from the little argument going on. "Faira does have a point. All the obvious supervillains are being dealt with right now by the Avengers and other big- and small-name heroes in New York. But ISIS is a real threat to a lot of people and it needs to be stopped."

"And," Sam put in helpfully, "I can fly long distances super fast!"

"And we have a teleporting mountain," Selah continued, raising an eyebrow at the little Black Nova.

"Sounds like a plan," Mark shrugged tiredly. Vance knew the kid had never wanted to be different, let alone a superhero, but he thought proudly he was growing into it very well.

"After all," Faira gave a polite nod, "if I am to be on the former _surface_ team of Princess Namorita, I might as well help as many _surface_ -dwellers as I can."

"We appreciate that," Vance smiled. She _was_ like Nita. He didn't want to be mean and bug her about it like Robbie did, but it was often easy to forget that she wasn't the same Nita Prentiss whose apartment he'd hunkered out in when he was homeless and fresh out of jail.

"Let's rock and roll, then," Sil crossed her arms, her crutches clicking gently across the floor.

Vance nodded. "Jake? Jake Waffles?" He looked around for the dog, half excepting to see him in the room with them; when he didn't see him, Vance slipped out down the hall. Jake Waffles was already heading towards them. Well, he must have been nearby.

"Yes, Justice?"

"We need transportation," Vance explained. "Could you plot a course to Syria?"

"I can teleport us there, surely," Jake Waffles replied, and Vance smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." He turned and burst back into the room with his friends. "We're en route now!"

"We're _teleporting_ ," Kaine pointed out. "What the fuck does that even mean right now?"

"I think it's Polish…" Sam said slowly.

"It's French," Robbie shook his head again. "Holy moley, what are they actually teaching youngsters in school these days?"

"I'm in high school," Sam crossed his arms. "And don't say youngsters, that's offensive to mutants."

"Uh, _what_?" Silhouette stared at him, and Vance figured he felt the same. As one of the only two mutants in the room, he was pretty sure Charles Xavier hadn't invented that word, nor even made it his.

Sam blushed. "Um. Or."

"Me? With the relationship I share with bluebell here?" Robbie snorted. "I don't get the joke, is it a joke? Needs work, my young paduwan, but I'd be happy to tutor you."

"What relationship do you share with Vance?" Faira raised an eyebrow, but she seemed genuinely curious. She was genuinely ignored.

"It's the pink-haired boy," Aracely said intelligently. "He's been telling strange things non-telepathically to Sam, who's already messed with by all his concussions."

Vance raised his eyebrows, wondering what pink-haired boy she was talking about, and then deciding it probably really didn't matter right now. "Well, I'm sure none of us meant to offend anyone and I'm pretty sure none of us were offended, so… Syria? Wanna go?"

"Let's see how terrorists do against an Inhuman dragon," Mark smiled faintly, flexing his shoulders.

"GO HAECHI!" Aracely cheered; and Mark flushed and froze and hid his face behind his hood. Okay. Well.

"Robbie?" Vance looked at his best friend, noticing suddenly that he wasn't being a hyper bundle of energy right now. He seemed to have zoned out.

He snapped back and looked at Vance, a smile reappearing on his face. "What? Right! Okay, Warriors, time to show those ISIS freaks what it's like to get _war'd_!"

 

Through fear of being redundant, it was a warzone outside. Vance had heard the stories of ISIS slowly torturing and murdering children on camera, but he hadn't expected… this. Bodies. So many bodies, some far too small, many left naked and mutilated on the ground. What had happened here?

"I want to kill the freaks that did this," he heard a voice growl by his side. Robbie. Well, that meant something. He was being serious — as he should be. Vance stared at his feet, unable right now to look for another second at the scene before them.

"For once, I like what you say," Kaine told Robbie, and he strode forwards from the group. "So where are the motherfuckers who need killing?!"

As if cued, Vance heard a voice. "Avengers!" It was accented, but distinctly English. A man ran turned up out of nowhere, or a boy — probably around their own age, actually — with thick black hair and dirt as if he'd been in a blast site. He had a gun in his right hand, and was waving it in the air a little dangerously, but not aggressively. He was grinning, which looked so strange here, on him, in this place, but it was definitely not a bad weird. "You're the Avengers, no? From America? You've come to help?"

"Uh…" Vance tried to speak, but his mouth felt dry. He half expected Robbie to vehemently profess that they were definitely not the Avengers, but Speedball seemed frozen. Staring at the tiny bodies on the ground. Vance took a sharp breath.

Selah spoke up with authority. She was good at that. "Not Avengers, but we _are_ superheroes, and we _are_ here to help."

"Oh." His smile faded a little. "Well, thank you. I guess I cannot expect Earth's Mightiest Heroes to care about the lives of us ordinary people."

"Avengers… get like that," Vance nodded, anger filling him at the same time as his heart reached out to the guy. "I should know, I used to be one of them. But you guys here are important, and we plan to do all we can. Unlike the Avengers, we aren't boldly representing any country or anything so I'm sure it couldn't do any harm. And I know at least some of my team are dying to crack some skulls right now." Vance included. Of course, heroes don't kill, he was determined to refrain from murder, but man, these terrorists deserved it. "Just show us what to do — do you have more people with you?"

"Yes," the dude nodded. "I have a sister, for one. We also have soldiers who can help. My name is Hosni, by the way, I just went to…" He froze suddenly, staring at the sky. "We need to get down. Now."

"What's that?" Robbie whispered, his face pale, and his fists clenching and unclenching. Vance followed his eyes towards the sky. A plane, it looked like.

"They rain bombs because they think they've already won," Hosni explained tersely. "We need cover immediately."

"I could try to shadow melt us away," Silhouette offered, but she didn't look confident in her abilities. There were ten of them, all told.

"We did not come here to hide," Faira raised her chin. "Let us help."

" _Bombs_ ," Hosni stressed. "Is that the correct English word? Boom—" he was cut off by a deafening sound. The plane dropped what turned into a ball of fire on the ground, which exploded not far away from them. "That!" he shouted, pointing.

"There's no mushroom cloud," Sam said in a small voice. "That means it's not the worst, right? Sir, I'm a Nova of the Black Novas of the Nova Corps of Xandar. I've got this." He didn't sound very confident, but he was brave. Vance admired that, but he wasn't about to let Sam throw his life away to protect him. Richard might've been able to take this on, but Sam was a little kid, and that looked like a fancy armored weaponized plane. Sleek and hi-tech. It was almost strange how savvy it looked, actually.

"I've got this!" Vance stepped in front of him. "My forcefields can protect us from all that."

Another bomb was dropped, another ball of fire. This one was close enough that they felt it. A wave of smoke and dust filled their nostrils. Robbie dropped to his knees, his hands over his ears. "No. No. No." He seemed to be chanting the word under his breath. "NO!"

"They see us," Hosni muttered, locking his gun. As if that would help anything against a bomber plane.

"Speedball!" Sam yelped.

"Get behind me!" Mark shouted, just as another bomb was dropped.

It didn't even hit the ground. Mark threw himself directly in its way, and absorbed the bomb. There was a shockingly small effect of disappearing flames, as he grew into an enormous Korean dragon. He reared up on his hind legs, bellowing at the plane. "Come at me, bro!" he shouted.

Hosni shouted what was probably expletives in his own language. "…What is he?"

The plane seemed to increase its speed, trying to turn. It was too high for them to touch, but Vance lifted off into the air for a second. Then he landed and sat beside his friend. Whichever was truly more important, there was no way he could leave Robbie. "Team," Vance said softly, "we'll tactically let them retreat right now, okay? We gave a good first impression, efficient and obviously not showing the full strength of our power. Good work, Haechi." He didn't even look up at the dragon as he said this, or at any of the other New Warriors except one. Vance's heart pounded.

Robbie was in a fetal position on the ground, gasping and sobbing. "I'm so sorry… it's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault," he repeated a few phrases again and again, shaking, running his fingers through his hair and digging his nails deep into his skin.

Vance put his arms around him at first; then pulled at his hands, trying to stop him from hurting himself. "Robbie. It's okay. Look at me, it's over. The bad guys are running scared."

Releasing the energy back out into the sky, Mark shrunk back to human form. "I think they realized they're no match for us pack of losers, so good so far — what's with him?" he looked confused.

Vance looked up at him. The rest of the New Warriors had never seen Robbie at his worst, they didn't know what pain he kept buried inside. But they were superheroes, they went through stressful situations all the time — so what had triggered it now?

"Bombs," Robbie whispered. "It's my fault!"

Oh. Of course. Nitro. Stamford. Bomb. Dead children. _Bombs._

"Is he…" Hosni began, but Silhouette cut him off.

"It's _not_ his fault. I mean, he's in no way responsible for any of this, of course."

"No, I know that." Hosni shook his head. "He has post traumatic stress, yes? Around here… you learn to recognize it."

Aracely nodded. "Good job on recognizing, Hosni! Hey Justice, let me." She kelt beside Robbie, and Vance looked up at her anxiously.

"Stop it. You don't want to ruin your pretty skin with _more_ scars," she told Robbie firmly, touching his hands, and he stopped scratching himself. Vance stared for a moment at his torn skin, then looked back up at Aracely. She was obviously using her powers. What other explanation could there be? But he wasn't sure if he should protest to that right now… Robbie was still sobbing uncontrollably, and he'd began reciting numbers to boot, but at least he wasn't hurting himself anymore. So all she was really doing was restraining him, right?

"What does he have PTSD from, and why is it only showing up now?" Sam asked, looking at each of them, but he didn't get an answer. Vance was too focused on what Aracely was doing to figure out how to begin to answer that question. When Vance and Robbie had first met Sam, Sam had apparently never even heard of them; if Nova was really that ignorant of Stamford, they'd have to find some other time and place to tell him.

"It's okay," Aracely told Robbie softly. "This isn't the town with the school and the five villains. It's not your fault. Like, the town with the school and the five villains wasn't actually your fault either, but no part of the cause of this here is even remotely related to you. And you came to help! You're a hero, Robbie. My hero."

Kaine crouched next to them, watching silently but intently, it seemed. Aracely glanced at him, then back at Robbie. "Scarlet Spider is my champion, you know, but you're my hero, Robbie. There's a huge difference. Namely, only one of them is, like… romantic."

Robbie gasped suddenly, thrashing out and, shoving her away; but fortunately for her, it didn't appear to be a rejection, because he barely seemed to see her. "I killed them! I killed them!" his eyes darted around the bodies on the ground and he scrambled to his feet. Well, apparently she wasn't being that effective.

"Oh my God, Robbie you have such unhealthy sleeping habits!" Aracely cried, rising about six inches into the air without changing her position. "You need a nap."

Instantly his eyes rolled back in his head, and he passed out. Kaine leapt to his feet and caught him in his arms. He held him like a big baby. "Okay…"

"Spidey sense! Great reflexes!" the local boy congratulated. Uh-oh.

"I'm not Spider-fucking-Man, get that in your head," Kaine grumbled, but he didn't really seem upset about it. "Do you want him, Justice?"

Vance nodded. "I can carry him," he telekinetically lifted Robbie's unconscious form above his head. Telekinesis came naturally to him, and he could use it to lift a lot of tons, but right now he was employing all the delicateness and gentleness he could manage when he was so worried.

"Are you professionals?" Hosni asked, and Vance couldn't quite tell how much skepticism there was in his voice. At least some.

"Yes!" Selah cried. "We're absolutely professionals. I'm Sun Girl, the boy with the telekinesis is Justice, the boy with the panic attack is Speedball, the girl with the crush on him is Hummingbird, the boy who's supposedly her champion is Scarlet Spider, the girl who shadow melts is Silhouette, the girl with the bikini armor is Water Snake, the boy who absorbed the bomb is Haechi, and the boy with the space helmet is Nova."

"Except we're fucking grownups," Kaine rolled his eyes. "Or at least I am."

"Says the toddler," Aracely winked.

"I've never heard of you," said Hosni blatantly.

"Hummingbird," butted in Mark, "why exactly did you knock out Speedball? When you could have just as easily just calmed him down?"

"She panicked," Sil said calmly.

"Hell, _I_ panicked!" Selah linked her fingers behind her neck. "Seeing Robbie act anything but immature is scarier than any bomber plane."

Aracely shook her head vigorously. "Well, I didn't panic, but he really doesn't like people in his head and he threatened me never to do it again. I don't want to make him sad when he feels better. He won't feel better if he thinks we've seen him as he truly is, because he wants us to think he's happy. He really doesn't like people in his head."

"Neither do I — if I threaten you enough, can I get a Nosy Aracely pass?" Kaine complained.

"It wasn't about his threatening!" Aracely protested. "That was hot."

"Entering a mind _is_ the most invasive thing you can do to a person," Faira pointed out. "But never mind now, Hummingbird, you resolved the situation… and I also resolved my own question of why Speedball is such a dick about me and Princess Namorita. Survivors guilt. It must hurt him more to say that to me, wouldn't it?" She paused, her eyes wide on Vance, before looking away and talking on. "Best for us to find the real Namorita soon then — and best we finish actually helping these people. We should go now to the camp of our new friend. We just need to leave Speedball somewhere safe."

"I'm not sure he'd ever forgive me for that," Vance gazed up at his limply hovering best friend. "He likes being useful, you know? Not in a selfish way… he'd feel terrible if his personal problems stopped him from being what he feels is a proper Warrior."

"He'll always be a Warrior, he's Speedball," said Silhouette.

Aracely smiled. "Okay Justice! But his brain hurts a _lot_. It'll take a ton to calm him down. Just gonna influence him till we've saved the day, though, so prepare to deal with whatever he's like after. Speedball!" She floated up into the air to be level with him, raising up her hands. "Wake up and be calm and don't hate yourself and be ready to fight and don't be too mad at me!"

Robbie's eyes snapped open. "Vance!" he yelped, and Vance dropped him. Robbie hit the ground and bounced a couple times before hopping onto his feet. He brushed himself off exaggeratedly. "Geez, Supertights, don't do that to people."

"Are you okay?" was all Vance could think about. All he could say.

Robbie nodded, gritting his teeth and looking around the group. "Right, sorry about… that. I am now! I'm… amazing, actually. Creepy amazing. I forgive you, 'Cely. Let's go kick some bad guy butt." He nodded at the local boy.

"You're sure you're okay for this?" Silhouette asked. "There's likely to be a _lot_ of bombs."

Robbie nodded seriously. "I can take it, Sil, I won't roll down in the middle of combat or anything endangering. Justice, stop looking at me like that."

Hosni raised an eyebrow. "So… you really _are_ professionals? You do seem like you could do serious damage to our enemy. Are you… the Young Avengers?"

Vance glanced at Robbie, his mind conflicted, but struggling to determine what to do at the moment. Part of him still wanted to bring Robbie back in Mount Wundagore and teleport someplace good and safe where he would be okay and not hate himself and know that he was loved. But Aracely had done the equivalent. She had helped him with all that. And how could it be wrong if it made Robbie happy? Maybe she was right, maybe she _was_ Robbie's soulmate.

And to be honest, there was also a good chunk of Vance that was beyond grateful to see Robbie now, happy to see him focused and in fighting condition and not breaking down and not hurting himself. If Robbie was mentally and emotionally able, he _should_ fight this war. The people here had went through things just as terrible as he had, and they didn't have a choice. And this would be healthy for Robbie. He'd always loved superheroing, it was in his bones, and doing what he loved would make him stronger. Helping people made him better. It made sense. It was the old Robbie. The real Robbie.

Besides, either way, Vance's conscience told him, there was only one right thing to do.

"Uh…" said Hosni.

"No," Vance looked back at him. "I mean, yes we are professionals, in the sense that we've done this sort of thing before… sort of… some of us." He glanced around at the group. "But we're not the Young Avengers." He paused. "We're the New Warriors, and…" he glanced at Robbie again, before smiling grimly at Hosni and finishing, "we're happy to help. Lead us to where the job needs doing."

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear I _don't_ in general approve of telepathically changing people's emotions... but if it was done right and for the right reasons, it could be like an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication that actually (y'know) _works._ Maybe? Right? lol


End file.
